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Since its first customer took out a loan in January 2013, Chicago's AvantCredit has carved out quite a niche for itself. It now has 500 employees, over 100,000 customers, and plans to double in size in 2015. To that end, the online consumer lending platform, one of the fastest-growing of its kind in the world, just brought in $225 million in Series D equity funding.
"As our largest round of equity funding to date, this Series D funding represents an important endorsement of our business model and our mission to provide consumers with a new way to borrow responsibly," said CEO and co-founder Al Goldstein in a statement. "We're dedicated to sustaining our growth and providing our customers with a better, faster and more convenient lending experience."
Goldstein said he has spent over a year courting new participants for this round, including RRE Ventures, KKR & Co., DFJ Growth, and renowned tech linchpin Peter Thiel, formerly of the 'PayPal mafia' and one of Goldstein's personal heroes.
"There are a lot of banks in the United States, but not enough access to credit," said Thiel in a statement. "AvantCredit continues to prove that technology can solve this fundamental financial problem."
[ibimage==42761==Large==none==self==ibimage_align-center]Goldstein said AvantCredit will use its new leverage to fuel the high-trajectory expansion of its loan portfolio, scout more top tech talent, and keep doing what sets it apart from less reputable lenders – giving its users the tools to handle their debt responsibly.
“We spend a ton of resources on analytics, customer surveys, reviewing complaints and quality assurance on our process and are constantly improving our process and product,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein is a serial entrepreneur - AvantCredit is the third company he has started in Chicago. Currently, it has a total of $334 million in equity funding and $700 million in debt funding.
